China's leading Internet search engine, Baidu, has reported a nearly 77.0 percent surge in net profit for the fourth quarter, lifted by strong revenue growth. Earnings reached $326.3 million in the last three months of 2011, Baidu said in a statement released late Thursday. Revenue for the same period soared 82.5 percent year-on-year to $710.9 million.
"We closed the year with solid financial results as strong execution allowed us to benefit from exceptional market opportunities," Robin Li, the company's chairman and chief executive, said in the statement. Net profit for all of 2011 rose 88.3 percent to $1.06 billion, while revenue jumped 83.2 percent to $2.30 billion. "In 2012, we will continue to innovate and to solidify Baidu's central position in China's Internet ecosystem," Li said.
Baidu forecast revenue of between $666.5 million to $688 million in the first quarter. The company is the dominant Chinese search engine with 78.2 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2011, according to Beijing-based Internet consultancy Analyses International.
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